Auxiliary heating system

ABSTRACT

An auxiliary heating system includes a furnace positioned within a building. The furnace includes an outlet duct and a thermostat electrically coupled to the furnace. The thermostat establishes a trigger temperature. A housing is provided to contain a combustible material. A discharge is coupled to the housing and discharges smoke produced from combustion of the combustible material. A conduit is coupled between the housing and the outlet duct to direct heat into the outlet duct. A damper is positioned within the conduit to restrict a flow of the heat into the outlet duct. A control circuit is coupled to the housing and electrically coupled to the thermostat and a power source. A fan is positioned within the conduit and electrically coupled to the control circuit. The fan is actuated when a temperature in the building falls below the trigger temperature to urge the heat into the outlet duct.

BACKGROUND OF THE DISCLOSURE Field of the Disclosure

The disclosure relates to heating devices and more particularly pertainsto a new heating device for utilizing heat from a combustible materialin a forced air furnace.

SUMMARY OF THE DISCLOSURE

An embodiment of the disclosure meets the needs presented above bygenerally comprising a furnace positioned within a building. The furnaceincludes an outlet duct and a thermostat electrically coupled to thefurnace. The thermostat establishes a trigger temperature. A housing isprovided to contain a combustible material. A discharge is coupled tothe housing and discharges smoke produced from combustion of thecombustible material. A conduit is in thermal communication between thehousing and the outlet duct to direct heat produced from combustion ofthe combustible material into the outlet duct. A damper is positionedwithin the conduit to restrict a flow of the heat into the outlet duct.A control circuit is coupled to the housing and electrically coupled tothe thermostat. The control circuit is electrically coupled to a powersource. A fan is positioned within the conduit and electrically coupledto the control circuit. The fan is actuated when a temperature in thebuilding falls below the trigger temperature to urge the heat into theoutlet duct.

There has thus been outlined, rather broadly, the more importantfeatures of the disclosure in order that the detailed descriptionthereof that follows may be better understood, and in order that thepresent contribution to the art may be better appreciated. There areadditional features of the disclosure that will be described hereinafterand which will form the subject matter of the claims appended hereto.

The objects of the disclosure, along with the various features ofnovelty which characterize the disclosure, are pointed out withparticularity in the claims annexed to and forming a part of thisdisclosure.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

The disclosure will be better understood and objects other than thoseset forth above will become apparent when consideration is given to thefollowing detailed description thereof. Such description makes referenceto the annexed drawings wherein:

FIG. 1 is a perspective view of an auxiliary heating system according toan embodiment of the disclosure.

FIG. 2 is a front view of an embodiment of the disclosure.

FIG. 3 is a right side view of an embodiment of the disclosure.

FIG. 4 is a schematic view of an embodiment of the disclosure.

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT

With reference now to the drawings, and in particular to FIGS. 1 through4 thereof, a new heating device embodying the principles and concepts ofan embodiment of the disclosure and generally designated by thereference numeral 10 will be described.

As best illustrated in FIGS. 1 through 4, the auxiliary heating system10 generally comprises a furnace 12 positioned within a building 14. Thefurnace 12 includes an outlet duct 16 and a thermostat 18 electricallycoupled to the furnace 12. The thermostat 18 establishes a triggertemperature. The trigger temperature may range between 50° Fahrenheitand 70° Fahrenheit. The furnace 12 may be a forced air furnace of anyconventional design. The thermostat 18 may be a mercury switchthermostat, a solid state thermostat or other conventional thermostat.

A housing 20 is provided that has a top wall 22, a bottom wall 24 and aperipheral wall 26 extending therebetween. The peripheral wall 26 has afront side 28 and the front side 28 has an opening 30 extendingtherethrough to access an interior of the housing 20. The front side 28has a vent 32 extending therethrough and the vent 32 is in fluidcommunication with the interior of the housing 20. The vent 32 providesair to support combustion within the interior of the housing. Thehousing 20 contains a combustible material 34. The combustible material34 may be wood or other combustible material typically used to produceheat. The housing 20 may be comprised of a thermally conductive materialsuch as iron.

The housing 20 may be structured to define an inner box 21 containedwithin the housing 20. The inner box 21 is discrete from the interior ofthe housing 20 and contains the combustible material 34. The vent 32 maybe in fluid communication with the inner box 21. An intake 23 may extendthrough the front side 28. The intake 23 is in fluid communication withthe interior of the housing 20. Heat from combustion of the combustiblematerial 34 may be transferred from the inner box 21 to the interior ofthe housing 20. Smoke from the combustion of the combustible material 34may be contained within the inner box.

A door 36 is hingedly coupled to the housing 12. The door 36 ispositioned on the front side 28 to expose the opening 30 or to cover theopening 30. The door 36 may be comprised of a heat resistant andtranslucent material. The door 36 may be one of a pair of doors 38.

A discharge 40 is coupled to the housing 20 and extends through the topwall 22 to be in fluid communication with the interior of the housing20. The discharge 40 may alternatively be in fluid communication withthe inner box 21 and not in fluid communication with the interior of thehousing 20. The discharge 40 discharges smoke produced from combustionof the combustible material 34. The discharge 40 may be fluidly coupledto a chimney 42 or the like. A conduit 44 is provided that has a firstend 46 and a second end 48. The first end 46 is coupled to the top wall22 and the conduit 44 is in thermal communication with the interior ofthe housing 12. The second end 48 is coupled to the outlet duct 16 todirect heat produced from combustion of the combustible material 34 intothe outlet duct 16.

A damper 50 is positioned within the conduit 44. The damper 50 ispositioned adjacent to the second end 48 and selectively restricts aflow of the heat into the outlet duct 16. A control circuit 52 iscoupled to the housing and is electrically coupled to the thermostat 18.The control circuit 52 is electrically coupled to a power source 54. Thepower source 54 may be the building 14 or the furnace 12. A fan 56 ispositioned within the conduit 44. The fan may be positioned adjacent tothe first end 46. The fan 56 is electrically coupled to the controlcircuit 52 and is actuated when a temperature in the building 14 fallsbelow the trigger temperature. The fan 56 urges the heat into the outletduct 16.

In use, the combustible material 34 is combusted within the housing 12.The heat from the combustible material 34 reduces an amount of energyconsumed by the furnace 12 to heat the building 14.

With respect to the above description then, it is to be realized thatthe optimum dimensional relationships for the parts of an embodimentenabled by the disclosure, to include variations in size, materials,shape, form, function and manner of operation, assembly and use, aredeemed readily apparent and obvious to one skilled in the art, and allequivalent relationships to those illustrated in the drawings anddescribed in the specification are intended to be encompassed by anembodiment of the disclosure.

Therefore, the foregoing is considered as illustrative only of theprinciples of the disclosure. Further, since numerous modifications andchanges will readily occur to those skilled in the art, it is notdesired to limit the disclosure to the exact construction and operationshown and described, and accordingly, all suitable modifications andequivalents may be resorted to, falling within the scope of thedisclosure. In this patent document, the word “comprising” is used inits non-limiting sense to mean that items following the word areincluded, but items not specifically mentioned are not excluded. Areference to an element by the indefinite article “a” does not excludethe possibility that more than one of the element is present, unless thecontext clearly requires that there be only one of the elements.

I claim:
 1. An auxiliary heating system configured to provide auxiliaryheat for a forced air furnace, said assembly comprising: a furnacepositioned within a building, said furnace including an outlet duct; athermostat electrically coupled to said furnace, said thermostatestablishing a trigger temperature; a housing containing a combustiblematerial; a discharge coupled to said housing, said dischargedischarging smoke produced from combustion of the combustible material;a conduit coupled between said housing and said duct, said conduitdirecting heat produced from combustion of the combustible material intosaid outlet duct; a damper positioned within said conduit, said damperselectively restricting a flow of the heat into said outlet duct; acontrol circuit coupled to said housing, said control circuit beingelectrically coupled to said thermostat, said control circuit beingconfigured to be electrically coupled to a power source; and a fanpositioned within said conduit, said fan being electrically coupled tosaid control circuit, said fan being actuated when a temperature in saidbuilding falls below said trigger temperature, said fan urging the heatinto said outlet duct.
 2. The assembly according to claim 1, whereinsaid housing has a top wall, a bottom wall and a peripheral wallextending therebetween, said peripheral wall having a front side, saidfront side having an opening extending therethrough to access aninterior of said housing, said front side having a vent extendingtherethrough, said vent being in fluid communication with said interiorof said housing.
 3. The assembly according to claim 2, furthercomprising a door hingedly coupled to said housing, said door beingpositioned on said front side, said door being positionable in an openposition to expose said opening, said door being positionable in aclosed position to cover said opening.
 4. The assembly according toclaim 2, wherein said discharge extends through said top wall and beingin fluid communication with said interior of said housing, said conduithaving a first end and a second end, said first end being coupled tosaid top wall, said conduit being in thermal communication with saidinterior of said housing, said second end being coupled to said outletduct, said damper being positioned adjacent to said second end.
 5. Anauxiliary heating system configured to provide auxiliary heat for aforced air furnace, said assembly comprising: a furnace positionedwithin a building, said furnace including an outlet duct; a thermostatelectrically coupled to said furnace, said thermostat establishing atrigger temperature; a housing having a top wall, a bottom wall and aperipheral wall extending therebetween, said peripheral wall having afront side, said front side having an opening extending therethrough toaccess an interior of said housing, said front side having a ventextending therethrough, said vent being in fluid communication with saidinterior of said housing, said housing containing a combustiblematerial; a door hingedly coupled to said housing, said door beingpositioned on said front side, said door being positionable in an openposition to expose said opening, said door being positionable in aclosed position to cover said opening; a discharge coupled to saidhousing, said discharge extending through said top wall and being influid communication with said interior of said housing, said dischargedischarging smoke produced from combustion of the combustible material;an conduit having a first end and a second end, said first end beingcoupled to said top wall, said conduit being in thermal communicationwith said interior of said housing, said second end being coupled tosaid outlet duct, said conduit directing heat produced from combustionof the combustible material into said outlet duct; a damper positionedwithin said conduit, said damper being positioned adjacent to saidsecond end, said damper selectively restricting a flow of the heat intosaid outlet duct; a control circuit coupled to said housing, saidcontrol circuit being electrically coupled to said thermostat, saidcontrol circuit being configured to be electrically coupled to a powersource; and a fan positioned within said conduit, said fan beingelectrically coupled to said control circuit, said fan being actuatedwhen a temperature in said building falls below said triggertemperature, said fan urging the heat into said outlet duct.